To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the prison population had gained formal educational qualifications before entering prison.

A national prison survey was conducted earlier this year, based on a 10 per cent. sample of the male and a 20 per cent. sample of the female prison population. Preliminary results indicate that 57 per cent. of the prisoners sampled had some education qualifications when they came into prison. Of these, 8 per cent. had a vocational qualification, 36 per cent. had the equivalent of what was a GCE O-level as their highest qualification, and 8 per cent. had a higher qualification.